The Photographer
by rein claude
Summary: Set in 21st century a.k.a present time plus the setting is not in a cold London city or anywhere else. i mean, being a photographer always on the move right? Life must go on even the picture stays still.
1. The Photographer

The Photographer

-drakkarnoir-

_snap_

"…beautiful…"

Under a broken down bus stop, stood a man in his late 20's, holding a rather expensive camera, feeling the cold seeping through from his half wet shirt and soaking socks, he decides he'd better be home before he catches a cold.

Giving a last look at the scenery before him he quickly unlocked his car and climbed in.

"Damn!" he cursed as his phone vibrated while he was struggling to place the key into ignition. He fished out the phone from his left pocket of his jeans and pressed the call button.

"Uh…hello?"

"Where are you? It's the damned monsoon season and you're out?!? Seriously, the exhibition meant nothing without you there!!"

"I'm coming home…anyway, I've got great scene here," said the speaker in playful voice as the other can sense those creepy smirks coming from the photographer.

"Uh…yeah, but haven't you forgotten you're meeting _her_? I mean, I rather not have _her_ ruined our life here. And I don't care if she's our boss or not."

"Okaaaaay….I am coming home. Now, if you please…I'll be there like…in ten minutes? Okay. Bye." And the man hung up, leaving the other gaping at the phone…unable to create a sentence.

"Okay…time to go home." Sebastian sighed happily as he turns on the ignition and drive home.

* * *

As soon as he arrived on the doorstep of his apartment he could hear shouts and the sound of stuffs breaking into pieces.

Bad news.

Sebastian quickly pushed the door opens and what he saw can be described as…epic disaster…with the coffee table flooded everything except the cups, one of the new frame he ordered was broken into two and the railing that holds the curtain was in an 'L' shape.

And it spelled one word.

Maylene.

As he freezes in front of the door gaping at his precious living room, out of the corner of his eyes he saw Bard pushing Maylene out of the kitchen.

"It's alright Maylene, I'd really appreciate if you just sit still and act like a guest."

"Bu-but…I can help with the tea. I-I mean Sebastian must be cold…h-he's probably soaking w-wet since it was raining heavily"

"Ahem."

"Oh…dear God, you're back"

"Wh-wha…ah, I'm really sorry Sebastian!!!!"

Sebastian closed the door behind him softly and began discarding his shoes. "Its okay, Maylene. You should take Bard advice as you are our guest." Bard gave a 'hmph' sound as he watched Maylene sat down while flushing all over her face. Sebastian continued walking towards his bedroom to take off his clothes.

Ten minutes later, all of them was gathering on the floor about 2 meters away from the flooded coffee table, discussing on the new art exhibition to be held next week at the city center.

"It's beautiful, Seb. You really are a gifted photographer." Though Maylene always had these clumsy looking glasses on her all the time, she would take it off when it comes down to discussing the 'real deal'. And she does have good eyesight when it comes to that.

"Wow…you know, if….I mean IF you ever comes across an accident and couldn't make it…just spare me a few pics, okay. And I'll happily carry out your funeral." Bard sighed as he sorted out the pictures to be showed at the exhibition.

"I'd doubt the last part." Replied Sebastian as he altered a few sketches on the blueprint beneath him.

"Seriously…Bard. Hey have you guys seen the lists of guest that'll be attending this exhibition? I mean, there's VIP's and all that but I also heard there will be a few university and college students attending…under the sponsorship, I heard. Rumours had it that these students are the next big thing so…"

"So…?" Bard eyed Maylene cautiously. She had a distressing looks all over her face that even Sebastian noticed and stopped to sip his tea while keeping an eye on Maylene.

"….my step-sister will be there. She's one of the freshmen." Maylene breathed out as she leaned on her elbows. "I don't really like her."

* * *

A/n: It's 10.30p.m and my brain was completely dried up. I'm serious. Let me know if you had any ideas popping up. Plus, I'm not sure to make up any pairing in this story.

My mind just went…blank.

Anyway, goodnight n have a nice day ahead ^^


	2. The Picture

The Picture

drakkarnoir

"You mean…Ran Mao?"

Maylene gave Bard a glare that could rival a laser beam. He knew she's just envying her quiet little step-sister because of a man named Lau. Deep down only God knows how much she loved her, well…perhaps those two knows too but they'd never tell. Especially Sebastian, no one could ever tell what's on his mind. Yeah, about that Lau guy, he's a creep and total blunt. That's how everyone would labelled him. The only thing that bothered Maylene is that how her little step-sister could be in company of that guy.

And those two guys would never understand if she tells them why she's envious of her step-sister. Their comments would most probably be "Hell, I'm not a girl," or "Women are another branch of art," or "Are you on period, eh…what's that called MMS?" or "You had too much coffee," or "Did you unmistakably shot a random guy?" or…well, the list goes on. She just knew those two too well. Again, except Sebastian. He's too subtle.

Out of the corner of Sebastian's eye he saw Bard slumped on the couch. Not that he mind, Bard was just a baker in a café. But right now Sebastian really needed his help in arranging the last minute addition of exhibition slots. Some people really liked to have things done at the last minute. Sebastian rolled his eyes whenever he thought of that. And that thought always refers to his superiors. Eh, isn't he a freelance photographer?

"What're you thinking Seb?" Sebastian quickly put his thoughts aside when he felt Bard's foot nudged him. "Huh?"

"Is there a problem?" Maylene peered over at the blueprint beneath him.

"Nothing…I was thinking. That's all." he replied monotonously. Suddenly he remembered something.

"Bard…" the raven haired male said softly as he shook his partner's torso. No response. "Hey…Bard," he tried again, this time harder. Not much.

Sebastian exhaled deeply. Quickly he inches his face closer to Bard's and….

"Hey…your fly is open,"

In a matter of second Bard eyes flew open as he frantically jerked around to see the evidence in Sebastian's voice. Realizing the brunette's pranks he turned his head to glare at the other party though the other party was having a difficult time keeping a straight face.

"What?" the raven haired asked, pouting.

"Fine…here," Bard shoved a fifty dollar bill in front of the raven's face. Sebastian caught the bill with his lips. "Thanmk yuuu," he said through his half clamped lips and strode towards the kitchen happily. Bard sighed as he slumped back to resume his slumber.

"What?" said the blond man lazily as his eyes rested upon tomato red faced Maylene. "I owe him…now, don't start your crazy fangirling moments," he added. Oh, yes…Maylene always had these crazy fantasies and somehow it'll always ended up as Sebastian being the main character. And somehow it'll always annoy Bard as Maylene would accidentally said it out loud _and_ because he would _never_ ever be _her_ main character. Now it sounds like Bard has a crush on Maylene. Eh…

Bard shuddered at his own thoughts.

Not that he didn't like the woman but truthfully said, no one would ever want to be in 10 meters radius around Maylene. Or no one could ever last for 10 seconds around her in that 10 meters radius. Again, except Sebastian, no one ever knew how he had such reflexes. Perhaps he's a ninja, Bard mused.

"Uh oh" a voice was heard in the kitchen. "Bard, did you in any chances…forgotten that you had overtime today?" Sebastian head popped out from the kitchen and met with Bard's puzzled look. "Like today?" he asked.

"No, it's like…now" said Sebastian as he gestured at the wall clock.

Bard and Sebastian looked at each other. "Oh, shit!!! I forgot!!!!" said the blond man as he scrambled on the floor and dashed toward his bedroom. How…oh, William are going to chop his head off for sure.

"Is he working today? I thought it's his day off…" Maylene was still on the floor, watching Bard fumbling around from his bedroom to the bathroom and kitchen, all the while cursing and trying to get on his uniform while searching for the car keys.

"It was…but Finni's on emergency leave so Bard has to go…" Sebastian shrugged. He noticed Bard as he passed him on his way to the front door, fuming. "Oh…no kisses?"

Much to everyone surprise, well, Maylene to be exact, Bard turned around to give Sebastian a peck on the cheek…and then he realizes what he just did and gagged. Sebastian smirked and Maylene was red like the fresh lava from the volcano. "What. The. Hell. SEBASTIAN??!??"

"Nothing, I just like to mess your head," he replied. Not that he liked Bard kissing him but it was fun to mess with Bard. He was really easy to get agitated. And fun when he's angry.

And no ones really know if he ever had any motives behind all his actions. Because as Bard slammed the door shut and Maylene was still on her LaLa Land, Sebastian took out the camera he was hiding on the counter top. He flicked on the photos. "Oh, this should do….hmm…I wonder he's going to bother me again after seeing this..." he bring the camera back toward his room and placed it on his work desk.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. He knew he shouldn't caved in Maylene's plea. Well, Bard's played a part in it too. He's a freelance photographer and doesn't that ring a bell to everyone that he didn't like to be bossed around? Well, duh…

At least this one is over when the art exhibition is done.

* * *

A/n: uhh....i know this story kind of...slow...yeah, actually i had this planned out but i can't think of anything to get _there_...there's something missing and i can't figured it out....hmm....and there's this thing called _math_ kept me from getting there...honestly, my final exam was in two weeks from now and this is the final _final_ exam -_no more books after this ~yay~_-...where everyone was working their brains until it turned to dust and here i am...ohh, i am soo dead... =_="


	3. The Exhibition

The Exhibition

drakkarnoir

* * *

'Here it comes' Sebastian mused to himself as he watched visitors came pouring into the gallery. He was standing by the buffet table, wearing a normal white long-sleeved button down shirt with black slack pants and an unbuttoned black vest. He continues to watch the visitors, especially the invited college students that have been hovering over pictures of an albino lion he'd took while he's on short vacation in North Africa. The picture was indeed one of his favourites. It was rare to see such beauty and he paid a lot of price for that picture.

"Hey, can you give me that éclair?" Sebastian turned his head towards the voice. 'Oh, a little boy,' he thought…except that the _little boy_ was actually a sophomore in one of the college that participate in this event, Sebastian just couldn't help wondering as the boy's face was…well, boyish…despite the height given. The boy was actually a few centimeters short from him. Sebastian realised he had been staring at the boy when he noticed those thin lips curved into a frown. "Yes? How may I help—"

"You're in my way" the boy said and pushed Sebastian aside as he made his way towards the desserts table. 'Kids, nowadays' he thought as his eyes trailed the boy whom now had stuffed two mini éclairs in his mouth. 'He's pretty for a boy, too bad his manners aren't that pretty'. He shook his head gently. And then it dawned on him, did he really look like a waiter in this attire? Because earlier, before the gallery opened Grell _did_ mentioned something about his choice of clothes that that sounds like _pedophile_ and he never understood what _he_ meant. Really, that _guy_, Grell…is what people would call…_complicated_. Sebastian sighed and walks towards Maylene whose waving her hands frantically towards Sebastian so he would come over.

"Oh. My. God…Seb, did you see that? Did you? Did you?" whispered Maylene as soon as Sebastian was in her reach. And for Sebastian, he felt like he just had an elephant jumped on his back because the difference in height he and Maylene had since she just _had_ to yank him down to whisper and Maylene's whisper – whenever she's excited - wasn't exactly a _whisper_. Sebastian felt like he was a microphone that had been yelled by a deaf and sputtering speaker. Yuck.

Maylene looked at him wide eyed behind those glossy spectacles. He returned a glare at her. She whimpered. He rolled his eyes. She stuttered. He sighed.

"What am I supposed to see, Maylene?"

"Uh…uhm.."

"One…"

"Wai..wait…I do want you to see something, err, someone,"

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. Ah, who could that be…?? For all he cared, he just wanted to be left alone with his camera and took a few pictures for his solo art exhibition next. Not that he hated a grand exhibition such as this, its just that he felt uncomfortable with other artists that certainly had more experiences and some are more talented – not to mentioned with inflatable egos – around him. Well, he admits he had issues with himself but he'd rather not talked it openly and somehow it resulted in people kept mistaking his cold demeanor as _his_ inflatable egos. Simply said he's just felt like an alien to human population. Not that squealing girls and _Grell _make the sun shine brighter. _Definitely,not_. Sebastian wandered whatever sins that he'd committed in his past to have this kind of life…oh, wait…there is one. But he doubted _that_ would be counted as a sin.

"Sebastian, are you listening?" Sebastian turned and he met with red-faced Maylene. And he had a feeling that Maylene's red face has nothing to do with embarrassment because he could see steams coming out from her ears and her glasses are kind of…foggy.

Uh oh…

"…no?" he replied, edging away from her.

"Y-you…you know you could be an _ass_ sometime Seb…and stop pouting it's not working on me anymore…ju-just because you had a pretty face you can get away with murder…_literally_…hey, are you list—know what…I HAD ENOUGH!!!" huffed Maylene as he watched Sebastian fiddled with his tie…totally _ignoring_ her rants. So she did what everyone would, kicked him hard. Not on the nuts, mind you…that would be _her fault_ later on. So she kicked him hard. On the shin. And walked away.

The said person she wanted him to see was actually watching them from the corner of his eyes, amused at those two behaviors.

* * *

"How did you do that?" said the blond man beside Sebastian when they hang out in the storeroom beside the man's room inside the gallery. "Do what, Bard?" Bard, on the other hand just shrugged and lighted his cigarette. "You know, dodging stuffs…questions…" he exhaled, letting the tainted smoke filled the space between him and Sebastian. Silence crept on before Sebastian replied, "If you hadn't notice, I am dodging all those stuffs and probably in pursuit by Grell. Honestly, I don't know why I agreed to do this the first place," said the raven haired as he ran a hand through his hair. Bard smirked as he exhaled another puff of smoke, "Not a people person…you never change Seb," "And it is your fault too," Sebastian stabbed a finger at Bard's forearm. "Why can't I just say no to you?"

"'Cause you love me," Sebastian raised an eyebrow and he swore Bard's grin just got wider. "Shut up, Bard"

Before Bard could retort the door flew open and standing there was Grell and Maylene. In an instant Maylene's and Grell's faces become flushed but the men inside the storeroom could tell both was flushed for a different reason. While Maylene was left speechless Grell pointed a finger at Sebastian. "H-how c-could you?!? Oh, HOW COULD YOU SEBASTIAN?!?!" Sebastian just rolled off his eyes and stepped out of the storeroom while Bard snickered behind, following Sebastian's back. He even managed to stick out his tongue at _Gaping Grell_, sending more wrong signals at him. Literally snarling, Grell stomped past Bard and snatched Sebastian away from them for he had a piece of his mind that Sebastian should hear. Finally, in a secluded place but still inside the building, Grell let go and faced Sebastian. "You. Are. The. Least. Matured. Men. I've. Ever. Met." He huffed out loud. Loud enough to have few visitors to that walk pasts them to turns their heads.

"Hmph…I was only do what I signed on the contract," True, it was only fair because he never agreed to give a speech on whatever the artworks was displayed in the exhibition. And giving speech was the last thing he would do, even though it would meant his carrier depended on him. Well, it's not like his photography carrier was his main; it was merely stand as his hobby. One that he held passion for. "Grell, if you ever did notice, that was captions for. I'm not going to answer the exact same thing that's already written—_in bold_,"

"I see…" a low, quite voice interrupted before Grell could say a word. Both heads turned towards the speaker and in an instant Sebastian was reminded of an éclair. It was the _little boy_ earlier. "But the captions…never mentioned anything about the price, no?" the boy tilted his head to the left upon his question. His gaze never left Sebastian. "Eh, you must be…" Grell trailed off.

"Phanthomhive, but Ciel is fine," said the owner of the voice. There was an air of royalties and maturity the way he speaks and carried himself. Though, Sebastian wandered about his manners on the buffet table. "I take it you're interested in one of my pictures," Sebastian said after a moment of silence and stepped forward, hands out in the forms welcoming a handshake from the other company. "Michaelis," was all he mentioned. Ciel caught his hand and replied the gestures. "Indeed, especially the one with the mansion in it," Sebastian pondered for a moment. A mansion? Well, he'd taken a lot of architectural pictures and…yes, there is one. _The Phanthomhive Mansion_. It was one of his favourite too; the old mansion never looked more beautiful in its ruin state. "The Phanthomhive Mansion?" he asked, just in case. "Yes, obviously," "Well, pardon me but I have never had an intentions to sell—,"

"I understand that, your art was…indeed _priceless_. Therefore, I would like another picture, another side of the mansion, the darkest part perhaps…and I want it to be taken by you, of course." And indeed Sebastian's face was priceless at the moment. Was this, Ciel, joking? To ask such favour...meaning to be working under people commands, _his_ commands, and Sebastian definitely not a people person, he wasn't one to understand people well and only a few would understand someone like him. Mentally shaking himself out of his stupor, he cleared his throat. "I…forgive me but I can't do that," Ciel raised an eyebrow at this. "And I believe I had the rights to protect my privacy,"

"You're going to sue me," stated Sebastian matter-of-factly. Somehow, he knew this moment would come. He knew he'd taken the pictures…well, most of it…spontaneously. Only when there is a need to ask for permissions he would follow the black and white protocols. "Blackmailing was more like it, actually," Now it was Sebastian to raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

There is a perfect reason why Sebastian had been avoiding speaking with visitors. This was one of the reasons. He never favoured to deal with something he's not interested to. Especially if it's involves money. Suddenly, out of nowhere came out an old Japanese man, wearing a suit that would indicate him as the guardian of the boy in front of him. Said the Japanese man bowed down a little before whispering something on the boy's ear. Ciel presented a soft smile as soon as the Japanese man bowed down again and took a stance behind the boy. "This is Tanaka, my butler. And unfortunately I had matters to attend right now—," he paused, as he eyed Sebastian from head to toe "—we will continue our pleasant meeting…sometime afterwards," he nodded and hand out a business card. Sebastian accepted his gestures and felt Grell was standing too close behind him. Both of them watched Ciel and his butler turned their heels towards the door, but after a few steps he stopped glanced over his shoulder and spoke "Though, you are an art yourself, Mr. Michaelis," leaving both Sebastian and Grell speechless for a moment. After those two disappear among the crowd and sculptures, Grell finally able to stutter out.

"I know this would sound…weird _and_ complicated, but I believe that boy was _mentally _raping you," said Grell breathlessly.

"Mentally _what_, Grell?," Bard's voice came from behind Grell. Both turned towards the voice. Sebastian shrugged while Grell's face changes from bewildered to confused to sceptic and accusing. "And what's that got to do with _you_?" asked Grell. While Bard and Grell have those mental sparring Sebastian made his was towards the architecture section of the gallery and found a rather large commotion around the 32 inches wide picture of a ruined Phanthomhive mansion. Sensing people contact he quickly hid himself behind a large pillar situated across the picture as he watched an art educator explained towards the group of students.

Pondering on the brief conversation he had with Ciel Phanthomhive he couldn't help but wondering.

_Ciel Phanthomhive_, what do you want from me?

* * *

a/n: okay, i said that i will update smoothly after April..well, work caught me. Damn that. But here it is. i worked from noon till night...and sometimes late at night so, most of my fics ended up in my dream...which is...disturbing...sometimes. Oh.


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